Embedded CV: Example and Template
How to structure your CV as an embedded software and hardware developer for the Swiss labour market.
Currently 27 open Embedded Engineer positions in Switzerland, across 8 cantons, 1 of them from the last 7 days. Bertrandt Group advertises the most.
CV example — two-page template
This template is editable straight away — or upload your existing CV and it is carried into this layout automatically.
What qualifications are expected for embedded roles in Switzerland?
The classic path leads through a BSc or MSc in electrical engineering, computer science or systems engineering at a university of applied sciences or at ETH or EPFL.
State your qualification using the Swiss convention, for example BSc FHNW Electrical Engineering, MSc ETH Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, or Dipl. Ing. FH. If you entered the field through a vocational apprenticeship, that is an advantage: an Elektroniker EFZ or Automatiker EFZ followed by a higher vocational qualification or a university of applied sciences degree is highly valued by Swiss employers, because it shows you know hardware and workshop practice. In this case, list the apprenticeship explicitly rather than leaving it out.
Supplement your degree with the specialisations that matter for embedded work: digital electronics, control engineering, real-time systems, VHDL/FPGA or signal processing. If you wrote a thesis on a hardware-related topic, mention it in one sentence, for example a bare-metal driver stack for a Cortex-M7 with a real-time requirement under 100 µs. This demonstrates a depth of expertise that the degree title alone does not convey.
For foreign diplomas, mention recognition by Swissuniversities or the SBFI if it applies. For roles in medical technology, rail technology or the defence industry, standards certifications are also decisive: IEC 61508, ISO 26262 (automotive), EN 50128 (rail) or IEC 62304 (medical). A TÜV certification as a Functional Safety Engineer often carries more weight for such positions than an additional academic title.
How should you structure work experience in an embedded CV?
For each position, describe the target system, the toolchain, the relevant standards framework and measurable results - not just tasks.
Start each role with a context sentence naming the product, processor and unit volume, for example firmware for a frequency converter on STM32G4, production run of 20'000 units per year. HR managers and technical leads look for exactly this information, because they want to know whether you come from low-volume or mass production, and whether you are used to bare metal, RTOS or embedded Linux. These three worlds differ significantly, and no one expects you to master all of them.
Quantify results using metrics that matter in the embedded world: flash and RAM usage in kB, current draw in µA, latency and jitter in µs, boot time in seconds, test coverage in percent, field RMA rate, number of board bring-ups, or schematic errors found. A bullet point such as code size reduced from 31.4 kB to 17.8 kB says more about your ability than any wording about optimisation.
Make clear where you sit in the development process. Mention your contributions to requirements traceability, software FMEA, code reviews, MISRA compliance, HIL test rigs and CI pipelines. If you have been involved in production test rigs, EMC measurement campaigns or certification audits, include this in your CV: Swiss companies in medical technology, rail technology and industrial automation pay a premium for candidates who know the path all the way to certification and series release.
How long should the CV be, and is a photo required?
Two pages are standard, and a professional photo is still customary in Switzerland and generally expected.
Keep to two pages, even with ten years of experience. Give the last three positions full detail, and summarise older roles in two lines each. Avoid endless lists of technologies: rather than forty acronyms, seven clearly grouped skill blocks (languages, RTOS/Linux, bus systems, standards, debugging, testing, tools) are far more effective. Attach a separate project sheet if you want to showcase many client projects.
A businesslike portrait photo in business attire, German as the document language (unless the position is explicitly advertised in English), and details on place of residence, citizenship or permit (C, B, G cross-border commuter) are convention here. State your availability and notice period, often three months to the end of a month, as well as your driving licence if the role involves customer visits or on-site commissioning.
Salary expectations do not belong in the CV; mention them only in the cover letter or online form if requested. Realistic ranges for embedded roles, depending on region and industry, are around CHF 85'000 to CHF 105'000 for entry-level positions and CHF 120'000 to CHF 145'000 for senior positions with safety experience. Match keywords such as MISRA, Zephyr, Yocto, CAN-FD or IEC 62304 exactly to the job posting, as many Swiss companies pre-filter applications using systems such as Refline or Ostendis.
Where Embedded Engineer are hired in Switzerland
How the 27 open positions are spread across the cantons.
Figures as a table
| Canton | postings |
|---|---|
| Zürich | 8 |
| Bern | 6 |
| Waadt | 4 |
| Solothurn | 1 |
| Zug | 1 |
| Thurgau | 1 |
| Basel-Stadt | 1 |
| Freiburg | 1 |
Which languages the postings require
Of 24 postings that state a language — in brackets, those requiring professional level.
Figures as a table
| Language | postings |
|---|---|
| English | 18 (18) |
| German | 16 (14) |
Who hires Embedded Engineer in Switzerland
Employers with the most open positions. Staffing agencies are excluded.
Figures as a table
| Employer | postings |
|---|---|
| Bertrandt Group | 4 |
| Global Clearance Solutions (GCS) | 2 |
| Rheinmetall | 2 |
| Honeywell Technologies | 1 |
| myStromer AG | 1 |
| bakerhughes | 1 |
Full-time or part-time?
How the positions are advertised.
Figures as a table
| Workload | postings |
|---|---|
| Vollzeit / plein temps | 20 |
| Teilzeit / partiel | 3 |
The CV in full
To read through and reuse.
Lukas Brunner
Embedded Software Engineer, MSc ETH Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
Embedded Software Engineer with 9 years of experience developing firmware for safety-critical drive and medical devices in C and C++17. I work across the full cycle, from schematic review through bare-metal bring-up and RTOS integration (FreeRTOS, Zephyr) to certification according to IEC 61508 SIL 2 and IEC 62304 Class B. My strength lies in combining hardware debugging with an oscilloscope and logic analyser with clean, testable software architecture and CI-driven hardware-in-the-loop verification.
What sets me apart
Proven functional safety expertise: Guided two products through TÜV certification to IEC 61508 SIL 2, including software FMEA, a traceability matrix in Polarion and MISRA-C:2012 compliance with fewer than 30 documented deviations.
Bring-up, not just application code: Carried out 11 board bring-ups, from assembly release through to a running bootloader, including DDR3 timing calibration, signal integrity measurements and correction of 6 schematic errors before series release.
Test automation for firmware: Built a HIL test rig with 8 target devices using Python pytest and Ceedling; reduced the regression run from 14 hours of manual testing to 40 minutes overnight in GitLab CI.
Power saving as a discipline: Reduced average current draw on a battery-powered LoRaWAN sensor from 84 µA to 19 µA, extending field runtime from 2 to over 8 years.
Key achievements
SIL 2 certification without follow-up audit. Developed and documented a safety function for a frequency converter to IEC 61508 SIL 2; passed the 2023 TÜV audit with 0 major findings, completing the project 5 weeks ahead of deadline.
Memory footprint halved. Refactored legacy firmware on a Cortex-M0+ with 32 kB of flash: reduced code size from 31.4 kB to 17.8 kB, enabling 4 new customer features without a hardware change and saving around CHF 210'000 in NRE costs.
Field failures drastically reduced. Introduced a watchdog concept and a bootloader with A/B updates and CRC checking; reduced the RMA rate across 12'000 installed devices from 2.7% to 0.4% within 14 months.
Experience
Senior Embedded Software Engineer — Helvetronik Drives AG, Baden, 03/2020 - present
Drive electronics for industrial automation, team of 7 developers, production runs of 20'000 units per year.
- Developed safety firmware for motor control (STM32G4, FreeRTOS) to IEC 61508 SIL 2, achieving TÜV certification in 2023 with 0 major findings.
- Implemented a CANopen stack and EtherCAT slave interface, achieving a stable 1 ms cycle time with jitter under 12 µs.
- Built a HIL test farm with 8 target devices and 640 automated test cases, shortening release regression testing from 14 h to 40 min.
- Onboarded 4 junior developers and established a code review process, reducing the defect rate per 1'000 lines of code by 38%.
Embedded Software Engineer — Alpina MedDevice GmbH, Bern, 08/2017 - 02/2020
Firmware for a portable infusion device, Class IIb, developed to IEC 62304 and ISO 13485.
- Implemented the application and safety layer for Cortex-M4 (NXP Kinetis) to IEC 62304 Class B, increasing unit test coverage from 41% to 92% for MC/DC-relevant modules.
- Reduced standby power consumption from 84 µA to 19 µA, extending battery life from 2 to over 8 years.
- Introduced a bootloader with signed A/B updates, allowing 3'400 devices in the field to be updated without a recall.
- Documented a risk analysis (software FMEA) covering 76 failure paths, fully closing Swissmedic-relevant gaps in the design history file.
Embedded Developer — Seematt Sensorik AG, Luzern, 09/2015 - 07/2017
IoT sensor technology for building automation, Linux and bare-metal systems, team of 4.
- Built a Yocto-based Linux image for i.MX6UL, optimising boot time from 22 s to 6.5 s.
- Carried out 11 board bring-ups and found 6 schematic errors before series release, avoiding around CHF 45'000 in layout redesign costs.
- Developed a LoRaWAN sensor node with Zephyr RTOS, taking 1'800 units into series production within 9 months.
- Built a production test rig with Python and SCPI control, reducing test time per device from 6 min to 95 s.
Education
MSc ETH, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Embedded Systems specialisation — ETH Zurich · 2015
BSc, Electrical Engineering — ETH Zurich · 2013
EFZ, Electronics Technician EFZ — Berufsfachschule Zug · 2009
Certified Professional for Functional Safety, IEC 61508 (TÜV Rheinland), 2022 · Zephyr RTOS Developer Training, Linux Foundation, 2021 · ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level, 2019 · Yocto Project Embedded Linux Development, 2017